The Litchfield County Times
Friday, August 25, 2006
Editorials & Commentary
“Writers at UConn”
Culturally-minded folks who live in a region that’s happily tucked about midway between New York City and Boston do not lack for opportunities. Besides the ability to attend terrific performances by musicians, actors and others, we often have the chance to head to one city or another for the type of lectures, readings and other events that might seem exotic to residents in distant and rural parts of the country.
Our strategic geography and East Coast sophistication is sometimes taken for granted, and the resulting self-satisfaction might just make us blind to a more intimate and potentially more meaningful cultural resource.
The Litchfield County Writers Project, located at the University of Connecticut’s campus in Torrington, is an over-achieving gem that has not yet received the level of recognition and support it deserves.
Created as an element that gave a unique quality to a regional campus, and thus insulated it from suffering when UConn budgets got tight, the writers project has grown rich and varied over the years as it has drawn more and more authors into the fold and then created wonderful programs that incorporate their talents.
Last year, the writers project and the Torrington Campus offered a course with ancillary events entitled “Writers of Litchfield County and Films Made From Their Works,” and this year’s offering is “Writers of Litchfield County Nonfiction and Memoir: A Discussion Series.”
Anyone with some free time in the evening can sit in on intriguing classes for free, while also attending talks by some of the most prominent, and entertaining, writers who call our region home, including the irrepressible Frank McCourt. Forget New York and Boston, the best in culture is right in our backyard.
